snapshots & stitchery

November 05, 2011

This is not about Andy Rooney

but his death has raised a lot of questions for me. The obituaries say simply "serious complications after minor surgery." One story said his family requested privacy. I can understand, but this is something we should all be concerned with.

How many of us private citizens suffer from or die from serious complications after minor surgery? Hospitals don't want us to think about it.

Why is a man of 92 having minor surgery? Did he really need it if it was really minor? Did anyone stop to think about how much of his life he would lose to recovery?

This certainly touches on our healthcare systems and our attitudes toward life and death. Too bad he's not around to tell us what he thinks about it.

I do hope we eventually learn what Andy Rooney's minor surgery was. Minor surgery is sometimes confused with elective surgery. My 98 year old Mother required minor surgery to correct a prolapsed rectum.....a very necessary surgery. Drugs or a stroke brought on immediate dementia and although she lived three more years, her mind never recovered.

Full disclosure of Rooney's situation would help us all to make informed decisions.

I think we seldom take into account the possible results of these medical decisions. Doctors work on autopilot: you have this, so you should have that treatment. That the quality of your life could be considerably worse is never considered. My father, at 92, was rushed to the hospital, against his and my wishes, when he coughed up blood. The doctor wanted to put a tube down his throat to see where he was bleeding. It took me 30 minutes of intense argument to keep it from happening. After all, what would they do when they found out: we would not allow surgery. He stopped bleeding and lived comfortably for another two years. The argument, which had to be repeated at the nursing home, left me exhausted. It should not have been necessary.